social justice movement terminology for interpreters and translators - because more bilingual movements are stronger movements!

Monday, July 6, 2009

la tierra es de quien la trabaja

I am such a geek that sometimes while watching subtitled movies I write down translations I either like or don't. I recently sat through all 4 hours of the movie Che and wrote down a bunch.

por las nubes - through the roof (in reference to mortalidad infantil)desmontar - clear the landconcéntrate - stay focusedromper monte - bushwhack (not what they used in the movie, but I would)que te vaya bien - have a good trip?! (what they used in the movie, bit bizarre)pendejo - moron (well, I've heard many versions, but in some instances this would be just right)mocoso - snot faced kidcontrareplica - rebuttaldale candela - torch ittemerario - recklessproclamar - cry (as in, patria o muerte)cual es la postura de la organizacion - where does the org standsu puño y letra - his hand and word ?! (what they used, sounds awful - his words in his handwriting I'd say)la tierra es de quien la trabaja - the owner of the land is the one who works it (what they said, and wow does it sound awful. how about the land belongs to those who work it!)

interesting post, sara. how would you have translated the "have a good trip" reference? i can see it as a perfectly good translation, depending on the context...

have you ever seen the movie "the initerpreter?" it's one of my favorites, but i was hugely disappointed in the subtitles of that one. (the irony is hard to ignore!) elias and i often have to pause movies and discuss how the subtitles have totally changed the original meaning...

well it just seems like folks are rarely actually leaving on a trip when they get 'que te vaya bien' - they're headed out the door, yes, but weird to say have a good trip if you're just going home down the block! it's pretty context dependent, but I think I would render it more like 'good luck' or maybe have a great day, or in Canada maybe just cheers! : )

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